The NHS is looking to claim back all £120,000 in costs it incurred defending a legal challenge from homeopath groups challenging its ban on the non-evidence based remedies.

Arguing that the taxpayer should not be made to pick up the bill for “tap water masquerading as medicine” NHS England said it will seek full reimbursement after judges dismissed the homeopaths’ challenge in June.

The British Homeopathic Association (BHA) was ordered to pay NHS England’s costs by the High Court and said it intended to raise the money by crowd-funding from patients who felt they had benefited from the remedies.